Highveld Lions threatened CL organisers over favouring IPL teams

Oct 26, 2012, 12:20 IST
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ANI

South African team Highveld Lions had threatened Champions League officials with legal action after they made a last-minute change to the playing conditions, which fuelled suspicions that the tournament was favouring Indian teams.

Fearful that both semi-finals would be washed out by rain, the Champions League''s governing council announced on Thursday just hours before Delhi were due to meet Highveld Lions in Durban, that a reserve day had been set aside for the games.

With storms looming, the ruling provided a lifeline for the Daredevils, who faced elimination had their semi final been a washout, as they had won fewer games than the Lions during the group stage of the tournament.

Highveld Lions. Photo: Getty Images

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Lions had told Champions League organisers that they reserved the right to take legal action, though that is now unlikely after they won through to the final with an upset 22-run victory over pre-tournament favourite Delhi.

Initially, there had been no reserve day in the schedule but there were provisions in the playing conditions for a winner to be determined should there not be a result due to inclement weather, the paper said.

According to law 21.9.2 of the playing conditions, the winner is determined in order of priority by the number of wins in the group stage, then net run rate, and if they still cannot be separated lots are drawn, it added.